Dr David Beirman is a senior lecturer at UTS specialising in tourism. His areas of research are tourism risk, crisis and recovery management and destination marketing. He is widely published in these fields, is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences, and has provided crisis and recovery management consultation to governments and tourism businesses in Australia, Asia, Africa and North America. David has also had an extensive career in the Australian travel industry, was the founder and National Secretary of the Eastern Mediterranean Tourism Association 2000-2012 and is a member of the Smartraveller Consular Consultative Group which consults with DFAT on travel advisories, tourism safety and security.

Commander Gavin Dengate heads the NSW Police Incidents and Events Unit and is also the Corporate Spokesperson for International Students. He is responsible for major events, both planned and reactionary throughout NSW. These include New Year’s Eve, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Bathurst Races, V8 Supercars, Tamworth Country Music, Royal and Presidential visits as well as large scale protests. He is also the Counter Terrorism Forward Commander and a member of the NSW Urban Search and Rescue(USAR) Taskforce. Prior to taking up this role he was the Local Area Commander for the Eastern Beaches.

Anthony Laver is the General Manager, Marketing, at Destination NSW where he is responsible for developing the strategic marketing direction. Over the past 30 years, Anthony has established a reputation as a specialist in high profile global events, sports, entertainment and intellectual property marketing. He has gained extensive experience living and working in the Asia Pacific region, the United Kingdom and United States. Prior to joining DNSW, Anthony has also held VP and Marketing Director roles in multinational companies such as Volkswagen Group China, the Westfield Group and Warner Bros. Consumer Products (part of the Time Warner Group) and the Sydney Swans (AFL).

Giovanna Lever is an Integrated Business Solutions expert. Some like to refer to her as the opportunity creator, problem solver. Her experience is varied across the commercial environment from spearheading the growth phase of Australian beauty start up, Vanity Group into the global market and opening the Inter Continental Sydney Double Bay as Director of Marketing through to Global Marketing at Tourism Australia’s Business Events team and PR for Rugby World Cup in Australia. She believes in sharing knowledge and connecting true talent and as such has recently launched Smart Sparrow Networking and is the Founder of Smart Sparrow Integrated Business Solutions – a consultancy practice providing practical commercial and organisational solutions.

Matt Smith is Principal Consultant at Reliance Risk with over 20 years’ experience in Major Events and Public Projects. Matt specialises in Risk Management, emergency management, project management, training and team development, and crisis management. Matt has led operational teams in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games environments, motorsport engineering projects, multisport events and tournaments. In this region Reliance Risk have delivered the Event Risk Management Framework and Operational Readiness Inspections for Sculpture by the Sea, and the Safety Management System for Centennial Parklands.